ORIGINAL INVENTORS OF THE STEAM-ENGINE.

49

features that distinguish the inventions of Savery, Newcomen, and Watt.*

Passing by the vague speculations of the Marquis of Worcester, and of others who, in antecedent periods, conceived the idea of applying the expansive force of steam as a motive-power, we commence with the steam-engine of Captain Savery, as that was the first practical application of steam-power.

In Savery's engine, which was invented at the close of the seventeenth century, the condensible property of steam was combined with its expansive force to produce the power required, which was directed exclusively to the draining of mines. The engine was very simple in its construction. It consisted of a strong boiler and a strong receiving vessel, into which the steam was introduced. A stop-cock admitted the steam into the receiver, and another stop-cock admitted streams of cold water for the purpose of condensing it. From the receiver a pipe led down to the water in the mine, and was continued upwards to the top of the pit. The receiver was first filled with steam, and when the connection with the boiler was shut off, the injection-cock was opened, and the steam was instantly condensed by the streams of cold water. The pressure of the atmosphere then forced the water into the receiver, which was not placed higher than twenty-five feet above the well, to fill the vacuum caused by the condensation. The steam was again admitted into the receiver, and by its pressure on the surface of the water forced it up the pipe to the top; the return of the water into the pit being prevented by a valve. When all the water in the receiver was thus forced up the pipe, its flow downwards was also prevented by another valve, and the process of condensation was repeated.

The steam thus acted directly on the surface of the water, and a large quantity of steam was consequently wasted by condensation until the surface of the water and the sides of the receiver became heated; and to force the water to the top of deep pits required a pressure of steam that was dangerous.

Newcomen, a blacksmith, observing the waste of steam and the danger of Savery's engine, effected a great improvement in it by introducing the steam into a cylinder wherein a piston worked, to which motion was given by the pressure of the atmosphere. The steam,

* See the Section upon the "History and Progress of Steam-power."

E

50

WATT'S IMPROVEMENTS-DESPONDENCY OF SUCCESS.

when admitted under the piston in the cylinder, was condensed by a jet of cold water, and a vacuum being thus produced the piston was forced downwards by atmospheric pressure. When it arrived at the bottom, the steam was again admitted, and a heavy weight fixed to the end of a beam, to the other end of which the piston-rod was attached, pulled the piston up again. This motion was continued as long as the stop-cocks connected with the boiler and with the injection pipe were turned at the proper times by the engineer; and the upward and downward motion of the beam worked pumps employed to drain the mines.

This engine was a vast improvement on the original one of Savery, who joined Newcomen, and a patent was taken out by them in 1702. The disadvantage attending the waste of steam was, however, only partially removed, for the cooling of the inner surface of the cylinder by the injection of cold water, still occasioned great waste at every stroke.

It was while repairing a working model of one of Newcomen's engines, that the idea occurred to Watt of employing a separate vessel for condensing the steam. He had been reflecting a great deal on the properties of steam, and endeavouring to contrive the means of making it more available, when, as he was walking on the Green at Glasgow, one Sunday afternoon, the idea occurred to him of a separate condenser. This improvement on Newcomen's engine, simple and obvious as it now seems, constituted the essential part of Watt's invention. The first engines he constructed were merely Newcomen's with that addition, but in the progress of improvement he dispensed with the weighted beam and introduced the steam at the top as well as at the bottom of the cylinder; the four-way stop-cocks, for turning the steam off and on, gave place to the slide-valves, which were worked automatically without requiring any attention. It was in the contrivance and arrangement of these details of the machinery that the mechanical genius of Watt was called into exercise. The original thought of the separate condenser might have occurred to any one, but the adaptation of all the parts to create the admirable self-acting engine he ultimately produced, required intellect and skill of the highest order, combined with undaunted perseverance.

It was, however, with Watt as well as with all other inventors; he had to struggle long against difficulties before he could reap any fruits from his ingenuity, and in a letter to one of his friends, at that period

PRODUCTION OF IRON-HARDWARE MANUFACTURES.

51

of his life, he exclaimed, in the bitterness of his spirit, "What a fool I am to be an inventor!"* When suffering from disappointment and almost desponding of success, he was about to accept an engagement in Russia as a civil engineer, and it is a matter for curious speculation what would have been the present state of manufacturing industry and of national prosperity, had Watt been driven from the country before he had completed his great work. His first patent was obtained in 1769, but it was not until the subsequent century that the steamengine came much into use as a motive-power for driving machinery Steam-power was applied to drive a cotton-mill for the first time in Manchester in 1789.

The improvement in the manufacture of iron, without which the improvements in machinery and the steam-engine itself, would have been of very restricted value, was in an advanced state before the middle of the eighteenth century. Lord Dudley's original plan of smelting iron with coal was successfully carried on at Colebrook Dale, and other parts of the kingdom, and the iron so made was nearly equal to that smelted with charcoal. The quantity of pig-iron made in England and Wales in 1740 amounted to 17,000 tons, which were the produce of fifty-nine forges; in ten years afterwards the annual produce was 22,000 tons; in 1788 it had been raised to 68,000 tons; and in 1796 the produce of iron from the 121 furnaces then in blast was 125,000

tons.

The more abundant production of iron introduced the use of that metal for purposes not before thought of, and before the end of the century iron bridges spanned several of the rivers in the north of England, and the roadways of some were suspended by chains.

The various metallic arts exercised in producing the "hardware manufactures," continued to depend, as most of them still do, on manual labour; but machinery was employed in all cases where a greater amount of power was required than the human hand could command; thus, the rolling of metal into sheets, the stamping from dies, and such operations, were done by machinery. The hardware manufactures were principally carried on in Birmingham and Sheffield, which rose to be towns of great importance; and the articles manufactured were so many, that the bare enumeration of them would occupy several pages. Some idea of the extent of these manufactures in metal may be

Muirhead's "Life of Watt."

entertained, when it is stated that in 1791 upwards of 3000 tons of wrought copper goods were exported; and the exports of brass and plated goods amounted to upwards of 2000 tons, the superiority of the British manufactures of this class being then established on the Continent. The produce of copper from the Cornish mines in 1801, was 56,611 tons, and the price was then £124 per ton. The introduction of cast steel into Sheffield in 1770, opened a fresh branch of manufacture there, and Birmingham had attained celebrity for making guns from the commencement of the eighteenth century. The making of nails by hand was carried on in the neighbourhood of the latter town to a great extent, even by females, as is shown in the following graphic account given by Hutton in his "History of Birmingham":

"When I first approached Birmingham, in 1741, I was surprised at the prodigious number of blacksmiths' shops upon the road, and could not conceive how the country, though populous, could support so many people of the same occupation. In some of these shops I observed one or more females, ftripped of their upper garments, and not overcharged with their lower, wielding the hammer with all the grace of their sex. The beauties of their face were rather eclipsed by the smut of the anvil. Struck with the novelty, I enquired whether the ladies of this country shoed horses, but was answered with a smile, They are nailers.""

An improvement in the manufacture of pottery was commenced in 1760, when Mr. Wedgwood established his since celebrated pottery at Etruria, in Staffordshire. Besides improving the composition of the ware, the glaze, and the colours of the kinds of earthenware before made, he invented several that were new, and introduced more tasteful patterns, which gave a high character to the English manufacture of the finest kinds of china and earthenware.

Glass also participated, but more slowly, in the general improvement in manufactures. Some attempts were made, but with indifferent success, to introduce the making of plate-glass from France. A company was incorporated for that purpose in 1773, and French workmen were employed, but it was not successful; and in 1794 another company was established.

The preparation of leather, which had been conducted extensively in this country from the earliest time for the supply of the home demand, grew into importance, and became a staple manufacture during

GREAT EXTENSION OF MANUFACTURES.

the period now under consideration.

53

Of other numerous manufactures

which grew up and prospered during that period, we defer speaking until we review the general state of progress at the present time.

FROM 1800 TO THE PRESENT TIME.

Ar the commencement of the present century all the elements existed, and were in a forward state of preparation, for giving full development to the manufacturing industry of the people, so soon as circumstances would permit; but for many years they were checked in their progress